Hand held, spring loaded exercise devices in which a pair of spaced operating handles fastened to extending ends of an intervening coil spring are squeezed toward one another by the operator's hand are known in the art. From my prior application Ser. No. 728,349, filed Apr. 29, 1985, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,141, issued Nov. 18, 1986, it is also known to provide flexible tubular means in the open interior of the spring's coils for reinforcing and increasing the spring's resistance to being tensioned upon movement of the handles toward each other.